Darkness returns
by dannyg102
Summary: Ever since returning to Destiny Islands, you've lead a normal life with the friends and woman you love. But there's this feeling you can't shake.. What is this feeling of despair?.. Rated M for certain content o.O
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: _Apparently I had missed a rule or two on the guidelines, as I went to read them again and it's against rules to write in second person o.o whoops! aha._**

* * *

_Pant.. Pant.. Sora_ awoke from another one of his nightmares. It's only been a year since he and Riku came back. These nightmares have been going on for almost a week now. _Pop, pop, _his back goes as he stands up and stretches. This nightmare consists of darkness.. Darkness greater than what he's faced. But that can't be possible. He, Donald, Goofy, Riku and King Mickey made sure that it wouldn't come back any time soon.. But.. He shake his head, puts his clothes on, then goes outside for a walk.

Things have pretty much gone normal since returning to Destiny Islands, and honestly it was kind of boring. _Sigh. _The memories of his previous travels return to his mind again, and he wishes he could see everyone else. But since then, the worlds had to go back into their original alignment, and had all memories erased. His were retained, though. Probably cause he held the keyblade. Nonetheless, no one remembered a thing. Whenever he asked Riku or Kairi if they remembered anything, they always said something sounded familiar, but they just dismissed these ideas.

His mind picks a moment before Mickey and the others left, he and Sora were alone. "_Sora, these memories must be erased. Everything about the darkness. We must preserve the balance of the worlds. Everyone will forget their adventures including the darkness. But you and me will not. Riku will also retain certain memories aswell, because he wields a keyblade. You, because you also weild several keyblades. And me?" He chuckled. "That's for another time. But, Their memories WILL come back if the darkness happens to come back.. Well, when. We can't keep it under forever, so I'll keep an eye out. Hopefully nothing too bad comes.. But if I happen to fall, you must be the one to realign the balance of light and dark."_

Sora shudders at the words. Mickey is a king, no? And he is powerful.. So there's no way he could fall. Right?

He shakes his head again, dismissing his thoughts and staring up at the sky as he walks by the shores he played around when he was younger. He smiles, remembering those simple times, sparring with Tidus, Wakka and Riku. Often he'd lose, but he had fun all the time. Now he sits in the sand, thinking about his life since he's returned.

He goes to school with his childhood friends, and is in a relationship with Kairi. Finally. It's not like he had to save several worlds, and her, ya know. But he asked her out a month after getting back. Why'd it take him that long? Well why is that tree staring at him? No freaking reason.

Waittaminute.. That tree is staring at him? He looks closer at it. He could have sworn he saw round yellow eyes. He shudders, remembering the heartless. He shakes his head and lays back, staring at the stars. "Hey, you're out late." a familiar voice calls out to him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, _You've got school in the morning _and all that junk." he replies, smiling up at Riku. Riku just sits next to him and looks up at the stars. "You know, Sora.. Those stories you're always telling.. Did I really give in to the darkness, or whatever?"

Sora looks at him with curiosity. "I wouldn't make those up.. It left me heartbroken. But you're here, so you joined our side. Do you finally believe me?"

He stares up at the sky. "I really don't know.. But bits and pieces of thoughts similar to those you tell me about have popped up. Not sure if they're memories, or just what I think of your stories." he says, playfully punching Sora on the arm.

Sora sticks his tongue out at Riku then he lifts his hand and shakes sand at Sora. He sits up and try spitting out the sand and rubbing his tongue free of sand. "Gahhhh!" is the sound he makes.

Riku busts out laughing. "Well, I'm gonna go back home.." Sora tells him, ruffling his hair.

He nods at him. "Alright, but be careful. I can't help but feel there's something watching us.." he looks around uncomfortably.

"Then freaking go home, ya scarredy cat!" Sora jeers.

He stands up and smiles. "Ha, ha, ha. But seriously, have you noticed anything.. odd?"

Sora looks around. Everything normal. Except that feeling he's being watched by several thousand eyes. "Nope not a damn thing." he says.

He snickers and rubs his head. "Right, I'm probably just imagining things.. Well, I'll see you tomorrow." he says, walking back towards his home.

Sora walks home, too, trying to shake off this uneasy feeling. He walks into his house and plops down on his bed. He lays there for a while, yawning, trying to sleep. He finally starts to drift off when he hears a sucking of sorts outside his window. "Niehhhhhh." he says, getting up and looking through his window. Nothing. He turns back then hear it again. This time when he turns around, there's a Darkball right behind it. The keyblade automatically appears, as sweat drips off his chin. He feels the atmosphere shift around him. Shadows. So many of them. He opens his window and jumps out, slashing the Darkball in half, and running back to the shore.

"Crap!" he shouts, staring at the sea of shadows before him. He hear slashing and grunting from across them. "Thundaga!" he yell as a large electric force shoots from the Kingdom Key, decimating half of the Shadows in front of him. He slashes and rushes through them, to find Riku fighting them off aswell. "Riku!" he yells, slashing another Darkball.

"I remember, Sora! Everything!" He says, slashing his Soul Eater through many Shadows.

Both stand back to back now, panting and fending off the Heartless. There's a loud screech and both look toward the ocean. A gigantic black hole has opened. "This seems vaguely familiar, no?" Sora says.

He hears a quack and a lightning bolt from the other side of the heartless. "Sora!" he hears Donald yell.

He stares wide eyed at Donald and Goofy as they make their ways towards him. The black hole seems to swell, and an abundance of heartless floods out of it. "What the hell's going on?" Riku yells to them.

"Gawrsh, it's King Mi-" Goofy stops as there's a great rumbling, shaking everything around them. "Riku, go get Kairi and get her to safety!" Sora yells to him, switching to Valor form, swinging his Kingdom Key and Oathkeeper at the heartless, cutting their numbers down exponentially.

"Donald, get him and Kairi onto the ship and get out of here! Me and Goofy will hold them off!" Donald hesitates then Goofy throws him at Riku, who is already running. Riku catches him and hastily takes off. Sora unleashes his Ragnarok combo, cutting the heartless number in half, but it is quickly filled again.

The rumbling is heard again, but this time the ground opens up to complete darkness. "Goofy, come on!" Sora says, quickly grabbing his arm and following the direction Riku headed off in.


	2. Chapter 2

Sora and Goofy ran across the shore to the canoes, and saw that Riku's was gone, yet Kairi's was still there. His was nowhere in sight, so he and Goofy hopped in and hoped that Kairi was with them. Goofy rowed as he switched to Wisdom Form, fending off any flying heartless. He was able to see the Invisibles and dispatch them quickly as Goofy struggled to keep the canoe afloat in the churning sea, heading to the main island. Sometimes he wasn't sure if living on the smaller island was such a great idea. "Sora, we're almost there!" Goofy shouts to him. "Keep going!" he yells back. He looks back to see the shore nearby, then something crashes in the water next to the canoe, rocking it.

"What was that?" Goofy asks. Sora looks to the side, shooting a lighting bolt at a Darkball. He only sees inky blackness. But it's moving. "Goofy-" he starts, not able to finishing his sentence as the canoe is tossed up, split in half, and flying through the air. "Yeowwwwwww!" Goofy yelps as something grabs him, threatening to crush his torso. Everything feels so slow, and Sora takes the chance to look at what's under him. He's pretty high up, and sees that this creature is huge, spreading from where the canoe was to almost the shore of the island they came from. Two gigantic yellow eyes stare up at him, and he sees its mouth. Giant, sharp teeth. This isn't a normal heartless. His heart seemed to skip several beets as he stares at it.

He's snapped back to reality by another one of Goofy's yelps. "Crap!" he yells, front flipping to gain his composure and quickly switching to Final Form, slicing the appendage that was holding Goofy, quickly grabbing him and clearing the distance between them and the island. He lands on the shore, and set Goofy down as he reverts to his original form, panting. "Are you.. alrighty, Goofy?.." he asks between breaths.

"Look out!" Riku yells when he pushes Sora and Goofy aside as the large creature sinks its teeth into the ground where the duo were. He rolls as Sora and Goofy bounce on the ground once before getting up. "Quaaaccck!" Donald yells when he sends the biggest bolt of lighting he's seen at the creature. It gives a bloodcurdling screech before sinking back into the sea.

"What the hell was that?" Sora asks no one in particular. "I've only read about it." Donald says, walking over.

"What?" Riku asks.

"We never thought it could be real.. I mean, Heartless are almost unbelievable themselves, and there are so many types. But this we put away as mere myth.." Goofy says, sitting on the ground his head in his hands.

"Does it have a name?" Sora asks.

"Levianthior. It's gigantic with several hundred rows of teeth. It's said it's body mass is a black hole, waiting to swallow everything in its path." Donald says.

Sora looks to the ground where the creature bit at. He sees a giant hole, and shudders. "It's made from the deepest depths of the dark, and is _not _limited to the sea, but is its favorite place to be." Goofy says.

"I think Ansem told me about this one.. That its creation is a mystery, but if I had to ever encounter it to forget everything and get away." Riku said.

Donald nods furiously. "I never thought it would show up here of all places.." Goofy says.

"Huh?" Sora asks.

"I know how it was created.. Before I was saved by King Mickey way back when, I was a guard for Organization XIII. Before it was widely known." Goofy starts.

"Goofy?" Donald says, sitting next to his friend.

"It was made by the blackest of hearts. The strongest of Nobodies. The deadliest of Heartless. It was never supposed to get out. What happened?" he says, shaking his head, tears dropped from his hands.

"It's alright.. All heartless can be defeated." Sora says, trying to cheer the mood up.

"It isn't a heartless.. It isn't a Nobody.. It's beyond any known form of life or unlife." Goofy says.

"Unlife?" Donald says not sure what to make of the word.

"Undead, I think he means." Riku says.

"But it can be beaten. Right?" he says, wanting an answer.

Everyone stays silent. He takes a big gulp and stares into the sea. "Sora!" he hears from behind him.

He looks back to see Kairi, running towards him. When she reaches him, he engulfs her in a huge hug. "I'm soo happy you're ok.." she says. Her lips reaches up to his and he holds the kiss for a couple seconds. He pulls away. "Donald, I thought you were supposed to put these two on the ship and get out of here?" He says, motioning towards Kairi and Riku,

"We couldn't leave you and Goofy!" he quacks.

Sora smiles and ruffles Donalds feathers. They hear a shriek as the rises, and a giant black figure looms several dozen feet above them. "Dammitttttt!" Sora yells, the Kingdom Key materializing. One of its appendages snaps out and grabs Kairi and Donald. "No!" He and Goofy yell.

Riku's Way to the Dawn materialized as well, and Goofy pulled out his Knight's Shield. Sora was exhausted, and couldn't switch forms. Though, he jumped up, slicing at the appendages that had Kairi and Donald. Riku speedily runs up the body, heading for the head. Goofy uses his Rocket ability and launches at the appendages. Sora can only strike and hope he can cut. Riku strikes hastily at the neck at eyes to no avail. It smashes them all, sending them to the ground. Sand flies high up as they all hit. Sora coughs and sits up, noticing that Kairi and Donald are heading for it's mouth. "No!" he yells.

A small, black hooded figure appears and slices at the appendages, seeming to teleport to Sora, setting Kairi and Donald down. Sora thinks he sees Mickey's bright smile, then he notices his features distort as he teleports back to Levianthior. He slices it all over, and in half with the keyblade he wields. But this one is.. Complete black.. Sora's heart races.

Levianthior simply regenerates. "_That's going to have to stop, now isn't it?" _a distorted voice said. _No.. Sora_ thinks.

A large ball of black forms around the tip of the keyblade. _No.._

It gets larger, seeming to swallow the air around it. _No.._

He shoots it at Levianthior. It decreases in size exponentially. It hits it. There's no immediate effects. Then it starts shrieking, and it seems as though it's getting busting from the inside. Shortly after, it stops shrieking, and just disintegrates.

Everyone stares at Mickey. "King?.." Donald and Goofy ask.

He turns his head only halfway towards them. What they see is a nightmare, and everyone gasps. His skin is black and gray, part of his ear was missing, and his keyblade had a dark aura around it. But worst of all was his eyes.. They were complete black. It seemed like his gruesome smile was glued there. "_Well hello, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi.. Soraa." _He says ominously.

Sora shudders at the way Mickey said his name. "King, what has happened?" Donald demands to know.

"_Know your place, Duck, speak only when spoken to." _he replies harshly.

Donald stares wide eyed at the figure that was once his master. "King.. Be nice." Goofy says, standing up.

Mickey disappears then reappears in front of Goofy, kicking him in the face, sending him flying. Sora's Kingdom Key was still drawn, and he swung at him. He blocks, then Riku swings, and he pulls out another blade of darkness, blocking him. "Donald, get Goofy and Kairi and GO!" Sora shouts.

The brokenhearted duck stared at his former king and grabs Goofy's arm, and with Kairi's help takes him away.

The dark aura around Mickey increased, pushing Sora and Riku back. "Mickey, what happened?" Riku demands.

His smile only widens, his eyes grow darker and he lashes out at Riku, who was barely able to block. Sora found enough strength to switch to Valor form and then send several strikes in quick succession to Mickey. He blocks all Sora's attacks with a single keyblade, and is striking at Riku with the other blade. This lasts for almost a minute, Sora's strength quickly diminishing, and he hops back, reverting to his original form. "King, why.. What happened?" he asks frantically.

Riku hops next to Sora, panting. "_Come to the darkness. You haven't.. lived.. until you've tried it._"

Sora shudders every time he hears Mickey's voice now. "Sora.. Get to the others and get out of here. Now.." Riku says, pulling out his Soul Eater, dual wielding the blades.

"No I can't.." he starts, shaking his head.

"GO!" he says, pushing Sora aside and rushing at the dark Mickey. He stares, then just heeds his word, hoping for the best.

...

Riku just told Sora to leave him be, and he rushed Mickey. What was he thinking.. He stands no chance.. But if he can give them enough time to get away, he'd gladly give his life.

He sends several rays of light from his Way to the Dawn at Mickey, but he deflects each one. Riku rushes at him again, slashing harder and faster than he thought he could ever go, yet Mickey's not even breaking a sweat, deflecting with one blade. "Mickey, what the hell is wrong with you?" Riku asks, as Mickey's holding a block against his blades. "_The darkness, Riku. It's a wonderful thing. You know this yourself._"

"No!" Riku shouts at him putting more strength into the strike, sending Mickey flying backwards.

He just materializes back in front of Riku and he hastily put your blades in front of him, blocking the slash. "_Join us again, Riku, I'm giving you this last chance.._"

"Never! The darkness is something I never want to be fully engulfed in again!" he replies.

Mickey steps back. "_That's a damn shame, Riku.._" he says.

Riku's about to strike again, when Mickey lunges at him, cutting his blades in half and stabbing his dark blade into Riku's chest. Riku stares into his dark, hollow eyes, then down at his chest. His vision starts to blur. The blade is slowly taken out of his chest, then he falls to his knees, torso still straight. "_Goodbye forever, Riku._" Mickey says, then slashes his blades against Riku's chest, draining whatever life he had left.

This time his senses fade altogether. He's falling back into darkness.. Except this time.. He won't be coming back..

...

They all stare down at the scene from the ship. "Riku.." Sora whispers, tears falling as he leans over the side. Mickey's head snaps up at him, seeming like he had no spine. "Take us out of here, quickly!" Sora shouts at Donald, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

Kairi sits next to Sora, sobbing loudly. Goofy sits in a chair, sad and teary-eyed. Donald never turned back, he didn't want anyone to see him cry either.

Donald closed the hatch then quickly departed.


	3. Chapter 3

Everyone sits there in the silence. None of them can, or _want _to believe what they saw happened to Riku. "Where are we going Donald?" Sora asks, wanting to see how everyone else was doing. "I don't know.." Donald replies.

"How about we go check on Beast and Belle?" Goofy suggests. Donald presses a couple buttons on the dashboard. "There's a large amount of heartless and nobodies coming out from there."

"Then that's where we go. Full throttle." Sora says, holding and comforting Kairi from the loss of their best childhood friend. Donald complies, and shoots off.

Sora watches as the planets, asteroids and other miscellaneous objects pass by. He sees their location coming up, and it looks engulfed in darkness. His heart races as they get closer. "Hold on." Donald says, getting into the atmosphere, and finally land in the courtyard. "Kairi, you know how to drive this, right?" he asks.

She nods. "Then take this up when we jump out, and stay there until we're ready to come back, not a second sooner, go it?" he tells her.

"But Sora.." "No buts." he interrupts, kissing her.

"Come on!" Sora tells Donald and Goofy, jumping out. When they land, the ship takes off into the air and the Kingdom Key materializes. The others pull out their weapons. "Well crap." he says, staring at the dozen or so Dark Thorns and Shadow Stalkers. Donald gulped. "Gawrsh.." Goofy says.

"Let's hurry and go in!" Sora exclaims, and runs in, going into valor form for the sprint, Pumpkinhead materializing, taking out a Dark Thorn in a lucky strike. Donald and Goofy are right behind, holding off the others. He quickly opens the door to go into the ballroom, and shut it as soon as the others got in. "We gotta find Beast!" he yells.

Armored Knights and Gargoyle Warriors were all over, jumping around on the chandelier and the stairs. Goofy blocks a hit that was aimed for the back of Sora's head, and hits it in the head, knocking it off, making it dematerialize. "Hurry!" he shouts, and Donald sends a giant fireball through the middle, taking out all in its path. They bolt through, getting into the Entrance Hall filled with Neoshadows. "Gooooood, can we get just a little break?" Sora asks no one in particular, and started blocking and taking out the enemies five at a time. Donald sent out several bolts of lighting and balls of fire, goofy worked on keeping them away from Donald.

They rush to Beast's room, and shut the door. Heartless never seemed to appear in here, so they were safe for the moment. "Beast, are you in here?" Sora calls out. Something's in the back of the room, rocking in the corner. "Hello?" Goofy calls out.

Sora gets closer and recognize the person. It's Belle. "Hey, are you alright?" he asks, rushing to her side.

She seemed to have been weeping. "Beast... He's not himself.. He's.." she sobs.

"What happened?" Donald asks.

She sniffs and tries to stop crying. "He.. broke everyone.. He.. Nearly killed me.. But he ran off.. I don't know where.."

"Did you notice anything weird about him?" Sora asks.

"No, he looked completely normal.. It must have been one of his rage fits.." she sniffs.

The trio exchanges glances. "Stay here, we'll find him." Sora tells her.

She nods and sits on the destroyed bed. They run out again to find not a heartless or nobody in sight. "Uhhh, am I missing something?" Sora asks, to no one in particular again.

A bellowing roar is heard from the top of the stairs, outside the door to the ballroom. They look up and see it's Beast, his eyes dark. "Beast, snap out of it!" Sora shouts.

He jumps down at him, and swings a large claw at his torso. Goofy knocks him out of the way and is impaled in the side. "Goofy!" Donald shouts, sending a lightning bolt at Beast. He roars again and takes off to the ballroom. Sora kneeled by Goofy. "Are you okay?" he asks, eyes dazed.

Goofu nods, and lifts up his shirt to reveal adamantine armor. Sora lets out a sigh of relief. "Our defences have been boosted since back then." Goofy says, then stands up.

They run to the ballroom again. This time they're met by several dozen dragoons and an angry Beast. He roars and tears apart several. "Beast!" Sora shouts again, swinging his keyblades about as Donald and Goofy take out those around them.

Beast nearly takes out Sora's head as you get nearer. "Snap the hell out of it! Belle's waiting for you, worrying so much!" he yells, sidestepping and taking out a Blitz Spear. He gives up on communication for the moment, and start demolishing the nobodies around him, switching to Master Form for a short burst. Sora and the others finally clear the room, and he kneels against his Kingdom Key, reverting back to his normal form and panting. Beast walks up to him. "You remember me.. Don't you?" he asks, looking up into Beast's eyes.

They keep the contact, and Donald and Goofy watches, ready to defend if need be. "Yes, I remember you well, Sora.." he says, but his eyes do not change.

"Then stop this! Belle.. She-"

"She's nothing! I don't need her, I don't need anyone! All I need is the power the Darkness gives me."

Sora stares in disbelief. A loud laugh pierces the silence. Everyone looks up except Beast and see it's Xaldin, holding Belle. "Belle!" Sora shouts.

Donald and Goofy get into fighting positions. "Now now, you remember me don't you, Sora?" Xaldin says, tossing back his hood.

"What have you done to Beast?" Goofy asks.

"He embraced the darkness, and gave into it. He does not care for this woman anymore." he says, holding up a lance.

"What are you doing? BEAST?!-" Belle yells, but is cut short, as Xaldin pierced her throat with the lance, then tossed her down, her body hitting the floor with a loud _crack _and _thud_. Sora , Donald and Goofy flinch, and Beast doesn't take his eyes off of Sora.

Sora's heart hurt, and he realizes this world is beyond saving at this point. "Beast.. I'm sorry.." he says, tears forming in his eyes.

He strikes out at Beast, who parries and grabs his shirt, lifting him up and tossing him into Donald and Goofy. They fall to the ground. Xaldin keeps laughing. "Beast, now.. Your usefulness is near an end. You must die to complete takeover." he says, jumping down.

Beast's eyes turn to normal. He looks to Belle. "BELLE!" he bellows, rushing over to her body.

He then looks over to Sora as the group gets up. "Sora.. I'm so sorry.. Please, get out of here, save yourselves.. You have to, for Belle.." he pleads to him.

Sora nods , and rush at Xaldin. Goofy follows suite, and Donald gets into a stance, building up his magic. Sora strikes fast and hard, trying to destroy Lindworm, to no avail. His lances just block and strike at Sora and Goofy, giving small cuts, and a gash in the arm. Donald strikes at him with thundaga, but it doesn't affect him. He knocks Sora and Goofy back. "Donald, get Kairi down here to pick us up, we'll hold him back." Sora says.

Donald nods and rushes out as fast as his feet'll take him. Beast finally snaps into reality and strikes fast at Xaldin. The three of them strike and strike, but is blocked every time by the lances. Donald yells, "Hurry up and get in!"

Sora and Goofy rushes out, hopping in the ship. "Beast, come on!" Sora shouts.

"No, Sora, I must defeat him!" he roars.

As he goes to strike, a lance pierces his chest. He looks back. "GO!" he roars loudly, and is pierce from the back of the mouth.

"God dammit!" Sora shouts, and the ship takes off fast, since there are still heartless trying to get in.

"What the hell's going on in the universe lately?" he asks, and sit in the corner of the ship, head in his hands.


	4. Chapter 4

"Donald, set off to Halloween Town, now. The pumpkinhead came forth when I switched forms.." you tell the duck while sitting in the corner of the ship.

He just nods, and punches in the coordinates. "What happened in there?" Kairi asks.

"Belle, and Beast.. They're gone. The world has fallen to pieces..." you say, not believing these words have came out.

She cuddles next to you. "Sora.. What will happen to us? Riku.. And now Beast.. Both were really strong, but were killed so easily.. Mickey.." she stumbles on her words.

You just pull her in close, letting your tears flow down your cheeks. You look up and watch as the stars pass by, and you can see many burn out. How much longer until they all just die? As a matter of fact, how long until your untimely demise?.. These thoughts hurt your head.

_The darkness is spreading indefinitely, Sora, and there's nothing you can do about it. _A voice in your head suddenly says. You jump a bit. Kairi looks up at you, and goes to speak, when Donald stops the ship suddenly. You look at him, and quickly get up. "What is it?"

He and Goofy stare at the window right in front, but you don't see anything. "Hello?"

They just stay there, still as statues. _This seems familiar.. _You think. Then you look at Kairi, and she's frozen too. "_Sora.. Never think you've escaped. Because I'm ALWAYS watching. Your demise is not to come, yet. I will make you endure the pain of losing everything you love, bit by bit." _a coarse voice is heard.

You look around, but see nothing. "Why is this happening? I thought we sealed the darkness away!" you shout.

"_Poor deluded child.. Darkness is overpowering, and it cannot be contained by a measly seal. It will rule, and the time has come for it to take over." _the voice goes on.

You turn around and see Mickey with his hood covering his face, sitting on the dashboard of the ship. Your heart starts to hurt as you look at what he's become. There are tears in the cloak. "Don't worry, Sora, things will get better soon." he says in his normal joyous voice. Somehow that sounded more ominous, though, and sent a shiver down your spine.

He looks up with his normal happy face, then for half a second that disturbing dark face showed, then he was gone, and you blacked out..

...  
"Sora! We're here!" Goofy tells you, hopping off the ship.

You mumble a little, sitting up. _Was it a dream?.. _Shaking your head, you get up and hop off. "Donald, stay here in-case something happens." you tell him.

You look at your hands and clothing as you touch the ground. Your clothes change to those of when you last visited Halloween Town. You and Goofy walk through the Guillotine Gate, searching for anyone. Reaching the fountain in the middle, no one is in sight, and there are no sounds. You look at Goofy. "Where is everyone?" you ask out loud, continuing the walk.

You look through the houses as Goofy goes to the Graveyard. Walking into Dr. Finklestein's Lab, you yell, "Hellooooo?"

No answer. But you can hear some whimpering from the back. You head to the back, to see.. "Zero!" you yell, rushing over.

"Bark, bark!" he still whimpers.

"What happened, boy?" you ask him, then wish he could speak.

More whimpering. "Where's everyone at, boy?" He barks, and floats out, waiting for you at the door.

You follow him to Moonlight Hill, and you see a long slender body on the ground near the curling hill. You rush over and see it's Jack Skellington. You shake him a bit. "Jack. Jack!" you shake him more..

He groans, and slowly blinks his eye sockets. "S... Sora?. Zero?.." he shakes his head, and sits upright as Zero barks more.

"What happened, Jack?" You ask, kneeling next to him.

"Everything's a blur.. One second, everyone's getting ready to start the day, the next I'm fending off waves of Heartless.. I thought I was a goner.. Where's everyone else at?"

You sigh. "I was hoping you could answer that."

He stands up, slouching a bit. "Let's go find them.." he says, staggering a bit, trying to keep balance.

You help him walk. Even though you've grown since last time, he's still quite tall. You walk to the Graveyard, searching for Goofy to see if he's found anyone. Or anything. "Goofy?" you yell.

No answer. "Where could he be?.." you wonder.

"Yeoowwwwwhoohoohoo!" a yell is heard from the direction of the bridge to Oogie's Mansion.

Zero barks and goes on ahead, you and Jack following close behind. You hear clashing as you reach the bridge, then see a bunch of bodies hopping around. You get closer and see there are several Dual Blade's attacking Goofy, who has a gash in his leg, and is struggling to dodge and block, barely able to hit back, if at all. Pumpkinhead materializes. "Jack, wait here." you say, then take off towards Goofy.

You're not able to switch forms, since you're slightly exhausted from the last few times. You strike at several, trying to lure them from Goofy. Jack casts thunder from a distance, hitting a couple. "Goofy, get back!" you yell, the Dual Blade nobodies hopping all around you. You strike down at least half a dozen, but there are still more. Goofy tosses his shield like a frisbee, takes out a few, and comes back to him. You take the chance to go for a burst in Valor form, wiping out the rest.

You pant as you head back to Goofy to check his leg. "Are you alright?" you ask, wrapping a cloth tightly around the wound.

He nods and winces as you tighten the cloth. "Where did they come from?" you ask.

"I saw them running from the Hinterlands, and chased them here."

"Then that's where we go, come on." Jack says, leading the way as you help Goofy walk.

Within a few minutes, you reach the entrance to the Hinterlands. Walking in feels ominous, and you hope you find everyone.

A few minutes in, and you did, but didn't expect this. Everyone was hanging from the branches of the trees near the middle one, leading into Christmas Town. The door in was wide open, and there was a bloody handprint that dragged down in a bloody streak. You see the mayor. The Dr.. "Sally?" Jack says, walking up to a certain tree, with another long slender body.

It was Sally..He starts to sob. You put a comforting hand on his shoulder, rubbing it. "I'm so sorry.." you say, tears pricking your eyes.

Even the trouble making children are up. Zero is whimpering by Jack. You see a body from the doorway. It's completely black. "Oogie?" you ask, hoping someone was alive, however unpleasant."No.. Sandy Claws." Jack says, looking too.

"Hey Mr. Sandy!" Goofy yells, waving.

Something's not right.. You walk up, and the other side of the doorway is engulfed in darkness. A groan is heard from Santa. "Sora.. Get out of here.. _Now._" his voice distorts at the last word, then a tendril of darkness shoots from his body towards your head.

Your reaction was too slow and you can't dodge it.

Jack takes the hit, the tendril impaling his slender chest. "Sora.. Please, I know this stuff is happening elsewhere.. Please, it's too late for us.. You have to go safe the other worlds." he says, cutting off the tendril, watching it disintegrate.

"Come with us!" you yell to him, getting out of the shock.

"No, I have to hold him off long enough for you to escape.. I'm sorry, Sora." he says, hugging you tightly. "I always thought of you like a little brother." he says, then rushes at the dark Santa.

"Not again!" you yell, tears flowing. You're surprised you can still cry at this point.

Goofy grabs your arm, then you both run. When you near the edge of these woods, you look back. All you see is Jack fighting, then he's impaled by more tendrils, then ripped into several pieces. You're still holding Pumpkinhead, but it shatters and is dematerialized. "This world has fallen too.." you say, your heart sinking.

Both of you ran back to the town, and headed back to the ship. Goofy hopped in, with help from you and Donald. You hop in, and just tell Donald to get out of there. He complied, although was worried about your well being.

* * *

**A/N: **

**_zpup1224: A bit late, but thanks for reading :)  
_**

**_IamMe2525: Thanks for the comment, nice to know you're enjoying it so far :) As for the question, I started this off of a scene I have planned for near the end, and it's just whatever comes to mind, when I write, I don't plan out scenes, I just go where my mind takes me._**

**_Thanks to all else whom be reading, and enjoy your days/nights _**


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